Trim one leek and slice in half lengthwise. Rinse any grit out. Boil in salted water for 3 minutes, remove and refresh in cold water. Drain leek halves. Keep the water boiling as this will cook the pasta too.

Top up pasta water if needed and get large skillet up medium heat. Add pasta to pot and cook 3/4 of the way. Meanwhile slice leeks and add to skillet with some olive oil and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Add salt. When pasta is ready drain and dump into skillet with a little pasta-water- about half a cup to one cup and raise the heat to high. Add a couple cups of chopped fresh spinach. Toss in pasta. Add grated reggiano at this time while the pasta is still very wet. Adjust salt if needed.

When the liquid is absorbed remove from heat and plate with more parm and if desired drizzle with high quality olive oil. Fresh cracked pepper.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Geezle pete, euge, what did you do to your stove? It's always so clean in your pictures......The plate looks nice.

lol I hate a dirty kitchen and stove especially. Had a few boil-overs and just haven't bothered to clean it. Plus I've been cooking every day and avoiding restaurants. Promise the next pic will be clean.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Have your mise en place ready to go. This is essential. You don't want to fumble in the fridge or have to prep anything while you do this.

Heat large wok screaming hot. If you want to use your brewing burner go for it!

Add oil and then garlic and ginger together. Immediately stir. Dump in vegetables (it will stop smoking ). Toss and stir to coat. Cook for a minute or so. Add everything else except oyster sauce and sauté while turning over the vegetables until liquid is gone. Turn off heat. Add oyster sauce and toss to coat.

Serve with steamed rice. Wash down with ice-cold lager.

The prep takes longer than the cooking but I had the whole thing done in less than 15 minutes. This is sort of a base recipe but you could certainly change it up and add things per your tastes. Shrimp, egg, tofu whatever. I forgot that there was a can of water chestnuts in the pantry. Will use it next time.

Feeds 2-4 people.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

I used this recipe as inspiration but used a bit more than called for minced garlic and red onion. I also whirled up four chile de arbol in the spice grinder since there was no cayenne in the house.

Wasn't about to go buy a ham-hock but remembered there was the bone from a pork-butt with some meat left on it in the freezer. Thawed it out and rubbed cure all over and rested in the fridge overnight. Then six hours in the smoker. Delicious on it's own I decided to still sacrifice it in the pot of beans.

Thought that the 3-4 hour simmer would be too long but that's right on target. The meat was falling off the bone in about 2.5 hours with the lid on and then another 1.5 with the lid half on to reduce the beans and make a nice gravy. Added a little bit of diced smoked sausage near the end per the recipe.

Served with the rice- the Red Dragon was brought back from Vietnam by my brother and lends a nice color contrast, nutty flavor and firm texture. The extra chile de arbol definitely kicked it up and proved to be a good substitute for the cayenne pepper. Condiment is homemade chow-chow relish.

As a first try I must say this is the best- far better than I've had in cajun-style restaurants or even Popeye's red beans.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

A simple dish: Steamed-rice with the last of the smoked chuck. Fizzy kim chee, pickled carrots and jalapeños, cilantro and crispy fried onions. A little soy to jazz it up. Lacks a ginger-sesame component. Will fix that next time.

Amazing how much money I save every month by not eating out.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Hey, it is breakfast time here, and that sammich looks mighty tasty Phil.I hate feeling self conscious about taking pictures of my food to post online.

Lunch. I just packed a field breakfast/lunch. Blueberry yogurt, banana, a couple pieces of cold wicked good pizza, mini doweled carrots, half of a suspiciously good looking green cucumber, some kinda healthy pseudo potato chips and a baggie of Whoppers made to look like Easter eggs.